Three schoolgirls who fled Britain to Syria have contacted their families, confirming they are “healthy” but not planning to return home. An Islamic State commander says the girls are “naïve” and “likely” to die there.

The girls, Shamima
Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, made a one
way journey from East London to Syria in February to allegedly
join the so-called Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

According to recent ITV news reports, one of the girls called her
family in the UK to confirm she is “healthy, safe and well,” but
she and the other girls have “no intention” of returning
home soon.

The two other girls contacted their family on the internet.
Relatives are convinced the messages are genuine.

Shortly after the girls disappeared, their families blamed the
police for “failing” to deliver a warning letter in
person, instead sending information via their daughters. Many on
social media meanwhile have accused the families of “bad
parenting.”

‘They will die in Iraq or Syria’

A top female ISIS commander told Sky News the three girls were
“very happy” to be in Syria. She said the
“naïve” teenagers “love the Muslim world” and
want to learn more about it.

The commander, who calls herself Um Asmah, says she was the first
person to contact the foreign girls when they crossed the Syrian
border.

She has also confirmed the girls are now undergoing a four-month
training program for “special missions.”

When asked if the girls would ever be allowed to return to
Britain, she said they will “never” go home and are
highly likely to “die in Iraq or Syria.”

In an interview with Sky News, Abase’s father begged his daughter
to come home. “Get back and remember how we love you, your
sister and your brother cannot stop crying,” he said.

‘Youth radicalization not surprising’

Rights Activist Ale Natiq told RT the radicalization of Muslim
youth in Britain is alarming “but should not be
surprising.”

“Many Muslim families want to inculcate Islamic traditional
cultural values into their children. To do this they send their
children to local mosques for regular prayers every day,” he
said.

Natiq says many Islamic centers in Britain are now ruled by
“the Saudi brand of Islam, Wahabism – a fundamentalist,
radical, hateful ideology.”

Preachers offering dreams of “Muslim’s ruling the world does
appeal to these young men and women who feel misfits in local
British culture,” he said.

This is because of “the way they are brought up and alienated
from local cultural values,” he said.

He said parents and Islamic centers play a “huge role”
in the process of radicalization. “There is nothing wrong
with being a Muslim who embraces secular British values and still
follows faith,” he added.

‘Counter terror extremism bill to tackle radicalization’

In March, Prime Minister David Cameron called for an end to youth
radicalization, saying “poisonous” extremist ideology
must be confronted.

The struggle to prevent young people from joining Islamic State
could go on for “not just years, but possibly decades,”
he told the BBC.

A new counter extremism bill was raised in the Queen’s Speech on
Wednesday.

The new bill is designed to “target the online communication
of terrorists, pedophiles and other serious criminals.”
Details of how it will work will be published in the coming days.

A spokesperson from Stop the War Coalition told RT the best way
to prevent further cases of youth radicalization is to “make
a radical break with the current British policy of permanent
brutal war to end UK involvement in mass human right abuses in
the Middle East.

“The British government’s Prevent strategy is contributing to
the feelings of alienation, discrimination and frustration which
many British Muslims increasing experience,” they added.

The issue is being used “to stoke Islamophobia and to build
the public support for the UK government’s militarist
agenda,” they added.